The present invention relates to an article housing device of a motorcycle disposed under a seat and adapted to house a long article such as a U-shaped lock device.
A U-shaped lock device commercially available as a lock device for preventing a motorcycle from being stolen is widespread because it is very strong as compared with a chain lock, a wire lock, or the like. However, because the U-shaped lock device can not be folded into a compact size unlike the chain lock, the wire lock, or the like, the U-shaped lock device is difficult to be housed in a housing device having a small capacity and provided under a seat of the motorcycle. A conventional example of a structure for housing the U-shaped lock device under the seat is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 7-89472, for example.
Although the structure of the conventional example is suitable to a road sports type of motorcycle in which a position of the seat is relatively high and a front-to-rear (longitudinal) length of the seat is large, the structure is difficult to be applied to an American type of motorcycle, for example, in which the position of the seat is low and the front-to-rear length thereof is short because a thickness of a cushion of the seat can not be increased and a body layout is severely limited. Moreover, the above structure of the conventional example is for housing only a U-shaped lock device and can not house other types of long articles such as a collapsible umbrella.